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Beca hopped over the back of the living room couch and plopped down beside her roommate (old news)/best friend (old news)/girlfriend (really recent and awesome news) Chloe Beale.
“Hey, watch it, Becs, you almost made me spill my wine,” the redhead protested as the brunette’s sudden arrival made her bounce up and down.
“And that, as we well know, is a capital crime in the court of Chloe” Beca shot back.
Chloe gave a pout and said: “Don’t be mean. Mean girls miss kisses”
“Sorry, Chlo,” Beca quickly apologized.
There was no way she was planning on missing any kisses.
The last month since they got together had been full of kisses and she had in no way, shape or form, reached her limit of Chloe Beale smooches.
“You’re forgiven,” Chloe replied as she pecked Beca quickly on the lips before turning back to the just turned on TV.
With a giddy kiss inspired grin on her face, Beca asked: “So what torture are you inflicting on me tonight?”
“Oh, I’ll think you’ll love it. It’s a new reality show called Secret Singer…”
Beca groaned, rolled her eyes and flung her head back against the couch: “Not another reality show, Chlo. You’re so smart, and intelligent and bright… and smart”
“Ran out of synonyms, did you?”
Beca continued as if she hadn’t been interrupted: “I can’t believe you watch this fake reality crap”
“Firstly, it’s not all crap, Secondly, it’s my escapism and thirdly this one sounds awesome. You might even like it. It’s about people who send in videos of friends or family or partners secretly singing. They select four videos each week to go the finals where they’ll have a chance to win a recording session and open for one spot on Hayley Kiyoko’s next tour.”
“Hayley’s involved?”
“She’s one of the executive producers”
Beca looked impressed: “Well if Lesbian Jesus is involved, I am morally obligated as a card carrying lesbian to watch the show!”
“Good, now hush up and snuggle up so we can watch this episode”
The first submission consisted of teenage boy being recorded by his sister.
He was quite the crooner, really laying into the Michael Bublé.
While the music wasn’t Beca’s cup of tea, she acknowledged that he had an amazing set of pipes on him.
His sister caught him singing when he was driving; making breakfast; raking leaves (using the rake as a pretend microphone) and when he was brushing his teeth.
After the recorded segment, the crew showed up at his house in a live segment to surprise him and offer him a shot in the finals.
He mock strangled his sister when he found out but looked excited at his chance for singing stardom.
The second participant of this week was a black woman in her seventies. Her grandson had filmed her singing in the church choir and at social events. She had a powerful voice with a range that really drew out the emotions in the hymns.
But the biggest surprise was the shots he’d caught of her singing when she was house cleaning: her singing Motown, Soul and R & B. She rivalled Aretha, delivered a beat like Beyonce and tore it up like Rihanna.
Her rapping was on point too, the closing song on the tape a smoking version of Missy Elliott’s “Work it”.
When the camera crew showed up to tell her she was going to the final, they had a hard time keeping her in frame as she was jumping up and down with excitement so much.
In spite of herself, Beca was becoming very invested in the show, Chloe smiling as the brunette sang along to some of the songs and threw in her own observations.
The third entry featured a man in his twenties who worked on a ranch in Wyoming. It was his co-workers who’d nominated him. There were shots of him singing on horseback, on an ATV, while he was cleaning the horses in the stable and when he was fixing a fence. The people capturing the footage had managed to catch a large number of shots with his shirt off, which certainly appealed to a specific demographic.
Beca wasn’t initially impressed with “Pretty Boy” as she nicknamed him, saying his song choices were pretty safe as he stuck to one genre: country music.
She and Chloe did enjoy the final song he was recorded singing: a rousing rendition of “Man, I feel Like a Woman” when he was mucking out the outbuilding where the cattle were housed.
He looked a little irritated when the crew showed up to surprise, most probably because his friends were razzing him. But he came around in the end.
Now both Beca and Chloe were invested in watching the final entrant.
It began with some rather shaky phone footage.
The person doing the shooting was obviously trying to be as sneaky as possible.
A voice in the background of the recording was singing a rousing version of Kesha’s “TikTok”.
The show beeped out the “Fuck P. Diddy” new opening but the woman singing it was really giving the song her all.
Beca frowned as she watched it, as if something was jogging her memory.
“Oh no,” she whispered as the camera crept down a hallway, past a framed music poster.
The brunette raised her eyes and looked at the hallway that led to their kitchen.
On the wall of the hallway hung an exact replica of the poster that was currently on screen.
Beca’s mouth hung open as words tried to escape it: “Oh you didn’t, did you?”
Beside her on the couch, Chloe had drawn her knees up to her face and was looking at the screen with her face half hidden.
She purposely avoided looking at her girlfriend.
The camera shot moved into a kitchen where a very familiar figure in sweats and oversized headphones was belting the song into a wooden spoon microphone while her eyes were closed.
Her booty shaking was most impressive.
The next cut was of a petite brunette quietly singing “My Heart will Go on” as she was painting the filmer’s toenails.
She managed to hit the high notes even when whisper singing.
Next was a wrenching version of Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers” being delivered to a stuffed dog while the singer was brushing her hair.
The final sequence involved the camera outside a closed door.
Running water and a muffled voice could be heard.
The door was pushed open, and steam filled bathroom became visible.
The shower curtain was closed, and a voice was giving “Titanium” a performance that brought chills to the listener.
The filmer walked over, raised their hand and wiped the curtain back.
The woman inside spun around, blue eyes widening in shock.
She tried to cover herself with her hands and her loofah, while at the same time shouting: “What the fuck, Chloe?”
The exact words were beeped out and the editors placed black bars over all the parts of the singer that couldn’t be shown on television but you could get the gist of what had been said.
The clip stopped.
Beca sat there in silence, Chloe equally quiet beside her.
‘Chloe, what did I just watch?”
In a hesitant voice, the redhead said, “Me helping you launch your music career?”
“I think I might hate you even though I love you so much”
Chloe gave out a nervous chuckle.
Just then there was a sharp knocking on the door of their apartment.
In a daze, Beca stood up and walked to the door, reached for the handle, turned it and slowly pulled the door open.
And in that instant, her and Chloe’s lives changed forever.